Perseverance

There were always subtle signs that I was different from the other girls. When I was 13 years old, I finally found the words to describe my feelings.

I sat outside with my father on a beautiful fall New England day, Dad, I'm transgender. He turned to me, smiled and said, I always wanted a son. I was shocked, because our family is very religious, even though my dad rejected his parents religion, my 13 year old self was still petrified that he wouldn't take it well, my dad and I tried to make it work, but eventually I dropped out of high school my sophomore year and fell into a deep depression.

We recognize that my life trajectory was not on a good path, and that we needed to do something drastic to save my life. My dad asked if there was any place in the country where I felt like I could be safe and thrive California. We were going to move to California on February 13, 2015 we took a one way flight to Los Angeles, California, with no plan and little money. We stayed in a hotel for three nights. My dad secured a car and we slept in it, in a Starbucks parking lot in Hollywood.

There were no shelters for a single father with a child only single mothers with children sleeping in the car, was challenging, so we had to make the difficult decision to split up. I was in a youth shelter, living away from my dad for the first time. Was terrifying.

At the same time, I was given the courage, strength and safety to explore my new identity using my preferred name and pronouns was expected. I no longer had to fight to be respected and seen. I went back to school and got my high school diploma.

I'm currently studying social work, and I'm going to transfer to San Francisco State University in fall 2025.